Veterans Affairs looses 26.5 Million personnel information.

September 15, 2008 – 2:02 pm

One of the biggest data breaches in the last couple of years was that of the Department of Veteran Affairs. In 2006 a computer was stolen from the residence of a Veterans Affairs (VA) employee. On this computer were the names, Social Security numbers and date of birth of 50,000 active duty soldiers. They were just 50,000 out of 26.5 million military personnel on the list. The list was a backup of the database kept by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Everyone who had his or her data stolen is vulnerable to identity theft. Because of this the Vietnam Veterans of America joined a class action lawsuit to help protect the VA’s computer files. Questions still linger about why the information was in the employee’s home and what the employee was doing with it. The VA launched a full investigation of the matter. According to VA they have taken important steps to securing their information and have hired experts that have aided in the process. The VA also has looked into the credit-monitoring services to protect those who have been affected.

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